NASA satellite captures spectacular eruption on Sun

Washington: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite has captured video images of a massive explosion that erupted Wednesday from the edge of the sun.

The explosion, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), can shoot over a billion tonnes of particles into space at more than one million miles per hour (1.6 million km per hour), NASA said on its website. None of the particles shot into space are expected to impact Earth as the CME is headed in a different direction, the US space agency said. The Solar Dynamics Observatory was launched in February 2010 and is designed to fly for five years, although many satellites developed by NASA continue to operate long past their estimated expiration date. IANS